'Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare' puts pressure on Sledgehammer

Updated 1:19 pm, Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Sledgehammer Games co-founders Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey are keenly aware "Call of Duty" fans don't want the next game to be just good. They're demanding greatness.

"People are tweeting us every day," Schofield said last week during a behind-the-scenes tour of the Foster City game studio that is creating "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare," scheduled for release this fall.

"We knew coming in five years ago that we were stepping into some massive shoes," Condrey said.

Sledgehammer is the first new studio in a decade to take the development lead for one of the biggest franchises in video game history. To date, gamers have bought more than 175 million copies of the war-simulation game, which has generated more than $10 billion in retail sales, and there are more than 40 million active players for online versions of the game.

"The pressure is definitely there," said Aaron Halon, director of product development. "We're also fans ourselves, and I think that helps. I sometimes feel like we're some of our worst critics. We love it. We're passionate about it."

Photo: Sledgehammer Games, Activision

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"Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare" will be the 11th major installment in the series.

"Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare" will be the 11th major installment in the series.

Actor Kevin Spacey lends his voice and likeness to the role of Jonathan Irons, the protagonist in "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare."

Actor Kevin Spacey lends his voice and likeness to the role of Jonathan Irons, the protagonist in "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare."

Photo: Sledgehammer Games, Activision

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Kevin Spacey does his work in motion-capture gear.

Kevin Spacey does his work in motion-capture gear.

Photo: Activision

'Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare' puts pressure on Sledgehammer

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Tough work

Halon is one of the more than 225 employees spending long hours putting the finishing polish on "Advanced Warfare" to meet a September deadline to deliver the game to Sledgehammer parent Activision Blizzard of Santa Monica. The game is scheduled to be released to the public on Nov. 4.

This is the first in the series to be set far in the future with a story that starts in 2054. Actor Kevin Spacey plays Jonathan Irons, the head of a private military corporation. Spacey not only voices the character, but his face is also the computer-generated image of Irons.

'What if' scenarios

The studio even contracted a futurist who writes "what if" scenarios for the U.S. government, such as "what happens if we had to evacuate Detroit," Schofield said.

"We're researching what tires are going to be made of in 50 years - Will they be filled with air? Will they be filled with water?" Schofield said.

So there are no flying cars, but the game does have attack drones and directed energy weapons. The game's hero, Pvt. Jack Mitchell, dons an exoskeleton, a computer-enhanced suit of armor that boosts his fighting abilities. Prototype exoskeletons are already in use.

"We're not space travel and aliens and laser beams," Condrey said. "We're very much grounded in research of today."

"Advanced Warfare" is the type of game Schofield and Condrey envisioned when they founded Sledgehammer in 2009 as a subsidiary of Activision. But their journey to "Call of Duty" evolved from circumstances beyond their control.

The game industry veterans met while working at Electronic Arts on titles like "Dead Space" and a James Bond game called "From Russia With Love."

At the time, "Call of Duty" creator Infinity Ward of Encino was the game's primary studio. But a nasty legal battle about royalties between Activision and Infinity Ward founders Jason West and Vince Zampella handed Sledgehammer an usual opportunity.

"They stepped in when Infinity Ward lost its co-founders and one third of its staff," said analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities.

Sledgehammer was already working on a version of "Call of Duty" set during the Vietnam War.

The franchise was always based "on a soldier's journey" and the camaraderie with a group "fighting for a hero's cause," Condrey said. Yet while the Vietnam project "was creatively interesting," the war itself was "not viewed globally as a hero's war," he said.

Instead, Activision asked Sledgehammer to work with what was left of Infinity Ward on "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3," which was released in 2011.

"They said, Would you like to work on 'Spider-Man,' a racing game or 'Call of Duty'? and it really wasn't close," Condrey said.

Big break

That led to the lead role in creating a new "Call of Duty" for the PC and the two next-generation home consoles that were released in 2013, Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4.

Sledgehammer received a third year of development time while Activision-owned studio Treyarch worked on "Call of Duty: Black Ops II," released in 2012, and Treyarch, Infinity Ward, Neversoft and Raven Software worked on last year's hit, "Call of Duty: Ghosts."

The extra year gave Condrey and Schofield time to work on the quality of "Advanced Warfare," but they also admit it eliminated any excuses they might have had if the game stumbles.

Pachter said the "Advanced Warfare" preview Sledgehammer showed at the big game industry conference E3 in June "looked phenomenal."

"This year's game is likely to be among the highest rated in franchise history," he said.

"Advanced Warfare" does have a tough act to follow: Retailers spent more than $1 billion worldwide on "Ghosts" in one day following its Nov. 5 release. Pachter said "Advanced Warfare" needs to hit about $950 million to be a hit, but "that is pretty much a lock. They are doing a great job."

Condrey and Schofield said their studio's name also described their personalities, which is why they're confident they'll succeed.

"We signed up for that pressure in advance, and we do use that to drive us to do the best work of our careers," Condrey said.

But they also know video game fans will have the ultimate say and that they can be fickle.

A big stumble

One glaring example comes from their former employer's longtime hit - the military fighting series "Medal of Honor." Electronic Arts put the series on hold after the 2012 release of "Medal of Honor: Warfighter" was a big flop.

Schofield believes his studio's attention to quality will make "Advanced Warfare" a hit.

"We want to have a game we're proud of to give to the fans," Schofield said. "The best thing for Michael and I would be for the fans to write to us on Twitter and tell us how much (they) enjoyed the game."

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